BATAVIA SHIPWRECK

R.I.P MAX
A brief history lesson about the Batavia,
flagship for the VOC in 1629 wrecked at the Abrolhos Islands in Western Australia.


The Batavia was the impressive new flagship of the Dutch East India Company, and it was during its maiden voyage to its namesake in Java that it struck a reef at the Abrolhos Islands, some 70 kilometres off the Western Australian coast. This was sometime after midnight on the 4 June 1629 and there was no real way for those keeping watch to know that they were sailing into a treacherous cluster of reefs, shoals and low-lying islands. The impact threw Commander Francisco Pelsaert from his bed and soon the other 315 men, women and children on board were in a state of panic.

With sunrise, the situation became all too clear. While perhaps not in immediate danger of breaking up, the Batavia was in a perilous position. Strong winds had arisen, bringing rain and sending breakers crashing over the decks. Evacuations by boat commenced to one of the nearby islands (Beacon Island), later to be known as Batavia's Graveyard, scene of the worst of the massacres.

Pelsaert and 47 others, including all the senior officers, headed off in the sloop to find water and to ultimately seek help from the port of Batavia, some 1,200 nautical miles away.

With Pelsaert and the disgraced skipper, Adriaen Jacobsz, both gone, Jeronimus Cornelisz, who was responsible for the ship's cargo, began to hatch a variation on the mutinous plan that had been brewing in his mind since before the Batavia came to grief. He would enlist a small group of followers, convince them that their only chance of survival on these god-forsaken shores was to systematically kill off everyone else, then await the return of Pelsaert, commandeer the rescue vessel and set off with the 250,000 guilders worth of silver coins, the casket of jewels, and other valuable items of cargo that had been salvaged. And if Pelsaert, didn't return, they'd build a new boat out of the wreckage.

Cornelisz and his cronies succeeded in murdering at least 125 men, women and children - but were unable to penetrate the defences of Wiebbe Hayes and others who were holding out on West Wallabi island, where there was plentiful wildlife and fresh water.

By 17th September, when Pelsaert arrived from Java aboard a rescue ship, there were fewer than 150 survivors. Pelsaert had the mutineers arrested and immediately tried them for their crimes. It was swift justice. Seven were hung, with the evil Cornelisz first having both hands cut off. Two others were cast away on the mainland, while the others were taken back to the Castle at Batavia. Importantly for the Dutch East India Company, Palsaert was able to retrieve eight of the ten chests of silver.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Batavia
• shipwreck
• mutiny
• murder
• humanities

[ABOM420]

awwwwww. i spent the last hour searching for an answer to the sentence all you skipped over when reading in the end

"two (money chests) had to be left behind"but it could not be slavaged because one of the heavy guns had fallen onto it and pinned it to the reef"

if only someone had read that journal before this guy decided to dive on the wreckage.

thought i had a treasure hunt there for a second,

they mentioned this guy in the end but never that he recovered the money

[5Fathom5]

@ABOM420 The crew/mutineers threw the contents of one chest overboard in a drunken rage against the VOC, throwing coins out as far as they could, the other chest was pinned to the reef and the contents of that have been salvaged. You can still find treasure if you look hard enough but don't get caught with it, you must hand all old shipwreck relics over to the government in Aus. There is still a lot more ships to be found in WA if you want a treasure hunt. good luck

[saintfletcher]

Not hung, hanged. Hung mean well endowed. Also, they had their arms and legs cut off left bleeding. Some were "wagon wheeled" down the hill for punnishment. Their was infact a civil war between the 2 groups on 2 Islands between Hayes and Cornelus's groups. They were rescued while they were at war between the 2 groups. +^+^+

[5Fathom5]

There is no evidence of them having their arms and legs chopped off....? please prove this for me. Some (2?) were "broken on the wheel" upon arrival at Batavia meaning they had all their bones crushed and bent around the wheel, it was never rolled down a hill.

Civil war???? please explain that.

[saintfletcher]

I know. I can't prove anything. At least I've started a conversation. haha. You know more about it than I do. I just read a book. OK, I'm not an expert. Great video, I luv the story. Maybe the essence of the story is all we know for sure. Blessings +^+^+ The Saint

[5Fathom5]

"Maybe the essence of the story is all we know for sure"

Pelsaert kept a detailed log of what he had witnessed before and after the "mutiny" However he was not around when the murders took place therefore he was relying on other eyewitness's accounts and those accounts might not be accurate.

[guybough]

I find it amazing to read about the seamanship and bravery of the Commander, Skipper and 50 others who sailed in a longboat from the wreck to Java with minimal food and water. Not mentioned in this video though.

[biojal]

Jeronimus Cornelisz: a devil among desperate men.

[Alblasserdams123]

The ships are from the Dutch

[janlul1211]

i do not think australia has ANY RIGHTS ON HER PROPERTY so give the dutch back wat we onwen ok australia is prissoners island simple its dutch property !!!!!!!!!!!!

[MECHcore]

I bought a replica today of this ship on a fleemarket !

It said Batavia 1902 , and i ended up here , awesome to see that the ship had some history :)

[sausageyman]

Our school in Perth is doing the story of Batavia as a physical theatre piece with giant puppets for a tour to the UK for an international drama festival. It's gunna be great!!

[groentjealkmaar]

@AlexanderCold1

The original town Batavia was in what's now called Jakarta Indonesia.which used to be the main colonial residence of The Netherlands. Ships and other towns were named after this. In google earth one can still see the old Batavia absorbed in big Jakarta.